As a follow-up to last week’s post, time to talk about Dee two of 2025 Dee-Va Las Vegas.
My daytime mission was clear. I had a $30 credit at White House Black Market that was expiring that day, and was burning a hole in my (digital) pocket. While the deadline for using the credit approached, I had been browsing the WHBM website (and I also outsourced the quest to GG friend Ms. Dee-ism, who likewise had some credits to use), but I hadn’t see anything I liked (nor did Ms. Dee-ism).
A web search of Las Vegas turned up three different WHBM stores, all within walking distance of the Dee-LV hotel. I plotted my route from closest to farthest and prepped to visit each, if necessary. I figured if I found something I liked at the first or second, I could put a hold on the item, check the other stores for something better, and return to buy it if I didn’t find anything better.
I’ve bought a handful of items from WHBM, including several dresses, a top, some shiny slacks/jeans, and the denim skirt I wore on the plane to LV. I usually scour the discount ranks, or when I find something I like (at a price I don’t like), I cyberstalk the item and wait until it goes on a very discounted sale. I bought one of my favorite dresses that way; it started at $180, and while I loved the dress, my love didn’t exceed the price. A few months later and a price drop to around $45, my love was consummated.
The other aspect of WHBM is that I’ve had really good experiences with the sales angels in multiple stores in multiple states, so that is a positive for them too.
For my shopping excursion, I wore a WHBM white floral dress I found on a discount rack in late July. It was love at first sight for the dress and the price, and I had worn it several times since. While walking to the first store, located near the Las Vegas Strip, a lady walking next to me said it was a very pretty dress, and I thanked her. When I walked into the store, the sales angel recognized it as one of theirs. I chatted briefly with her, explained my mission (she said all the coupons expired that day), and had a look to see if something interested me.
Nothing did, so I struck out for the second store after striking out at the first. That store was no better; a quick look, and I headed for store #3.
Two years prior, in 2023, I had visited store #3, located in the Fashion mall. One of the sales angels there, Tina, remembered me from my visit two years earlier (nice to be remembered). This store was larger and had a larger area of discount racks (although not a lot).
I plucked a few items in my size from the discount racks, and a blue strapless top that piqued my interest from the full price rack. I also pulled some bottoms to try on with the tops.
The sizes of WHBM tend to run small on me (or I’m a tad big for their normal range). The blue strapless top, which I really liked, was a 14, the largest size they had. I really didn’t think it would fit, but then again I spent the month prior to DLV trying to lose weight–I managed to lose ten pounds. Part of the motivation was to do well in a Half-marathon two weeks before DLV, and a 10K the Sun-Dee after DLV (finished 2nd in my age group in both). But the largest share of the motivation was to fit into my fun dresses better.
The top was tight, but it did zip, and Tina did the hook in the back for me (I’m not a shrinking violet that stays in the change room). Tina liked the look, and I liked the look. I asked Tina to find a navy blue skort a size larger than I had tried on, and she did. I put on the skort, really liked the look–as did Tina. That day’s sales offering was buy one, get the second 50% off. With the $30 coupon, it was a little more than I wanted to pay, but I knew in the end I could afford it and bought both the top and skort.
Wearing a strapless top is a bit more adventurous for me, but when I buy something, I buy it to wear somewhere. When I was checking out, the young lady at the desk said the top looked good on me (I didn’t realize she had seen me trying it on). I thanked her for the compliment. Now I just need to find the somewhere to wear my new strapless top and skort combo.
After WHBM, I ventured to the food court for a late lunch (shopping too priority over eating). My choice for most lady suitable lunch was Panda Express. After reading the fortune from my fortune cookie, I created a collage to message Michelle and Ms. Dee-ism.
The LV weather was cooler than usual, and that day was windy as well. My pre-trip goal was to go to the pool everyday in LV. There was a second pool, a lap pool, at our hotel, which also had a hot tub. It was a bit chilly for the lap pool, but perfect for the hot tub.
I was the only one there when I arrived (though three more women showed up before I left). I had my tablet, and sat in the hot tub while I began writing last week’s blog post. I stayed for about an hour, then returned to my room to change for dinner and a show.
One of my reasons for going to Dee-LV was an opportunity to wear one of my several (and ever growing quantity of) “fun” dresses. The one I wore that night was one I wanted to wear somewhere after I found it at Refresh (a St. Louis thrift store) for $7. With it, I wore some back-seemed fishnet stockings Renee and I bought together during my September trip to Durham. Fortunately, dinner and the show (The Rat Pack; featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. impersonators), were at our hotel, so I could wear my highest heels.
It was a fun show, and afterwards a few in the group besides me stuck around at the hotel bar to listen to a solo musician. After a while, I called it a night, and did my best high heel strut back to my room, where I took my best shot at a cheesecake photo.
More fun and games next Sun-Dee.
